


descent

by orphan_account



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble, F/F, First Meetings, Pre-Relationship, Snaibsel Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 19:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15419817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Zatanna meets Tigress on her second mission with the team.Snaibsel Week 2018 | Day Three: Evil AU





	descent

**Author's Note:**

> [insp.](https://sophieleeart.tumblr.com/post/176223003259/please-making-artemis-and-zatanna-snaibsel)

 

 

 

 

 

Zatanna meets Tigress on her second mission with the team.

It’s in the pitch dark of a jungle. The others are securing the perimeter around the abandoned fort where their target is reported to be hiding out in. She’s murmuring spells to cover the tracks she left in the mud when something hits her in the back. It stuns her, sends her falling, has her face-down in the dead leaves and dirt, but she rolls to the side just as a body lands right where she was. She’s on her feet in a moment, telepathically shouting out to her teammates as she and her assailant begin circling each other, hands raised, movements tense and slow.

The attacker steps into a patch of moonlight, and Zatanna immediately recognizes Tigress: often seen with Cheshire, only rarely with Sportsmaster, wanted on both confirmed and rumored criminal activities. No one has ever caught her before.

Zatanna means to. She has never backed down from a challenge before, and doesn’t intend on starting now.

Zatanna sends vines after Tigress; Tigress dodges and kicks low, knocking Zatanna off her feet; Zatanna lurches out of the way before Tigress pounces; Tigress swings wide with her staff, managing to hit Zatanna square in the solar plexus; taking the hit, Zatanna goes down, but uses the momentum to roll out of the way of the next incoming blow; Zatanna shouts a spell and a branch above twists and manages to wrap around Tigress’s wrist, halting her movement. It goes on like this, all the while Zatanna wonders, more desperately with each passing moment as her energy is drained, where is the team? Can’t they hear her?

“You’re pretty good,” Tigress says, struggling against the restraint.

“Thanks,” Zatanna grins, taking this brief lapse in action as an opportunity to catch her breath.

“Too bad you’re on the wrong side,” Tigress says, and Zatanna’s smile falls. She hadn’t even realized she’d been smiling.

“What?”

“Zatanna!” A voice cuts through the jungle, clear and frantic. Robin. “Zatanna—”

But Tigress is already in motion, snapping her wrist free, shoving Zatanna into the underbrush before making her escape. Zatanna can hear Robin and the others crashing towards her in the dark, but she’s already getting to her feet, brushing the dirt and leaves off her clothes. “It’s too late,” Zatanna says by way of greeting, “she got away.”

“So did our guy,” Wally says, and Zatanna frowns in the direction Tigress disappeared in. Her heart, she realizes, is beating a million miles out of her chest. And not because she lost.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
